A Speck of Light in the Darkness
by Queen Misazaki
Summary: This story is telling you what happened when Amane Bakura died. How Ryou reacted, and how Bakura reacted. Tendershipp-y without being a Tendershipping.


Queen: I decided to take a more serious approach to Bakura and Ryou's relationship. I was thinking about Amane Bakura and how she died and wondering… "What if I could bring that story to life?" Ryou was hesitant to give me details on his sister, but eventually I got them. This is a sad story and is therefore not supposed to be like the stuff I've written before. I'm the only one here today so it's just me and the computer.

Enjoy.

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><p>Ryou's soul room was always bright and happy, always calming, always as sweet as the boy himself. Bakura had been in there before because he wanted to. Bakura had been with Ryou for about a year and Ryou still hated him with every ounce of fight that the little hikari had. Sometimes it aggravated the yami and sometimes it put up a challenge.<p>

Bakura never expected Ryou to change completely.

He still remembers that day clearly…

"Ryou, Ni-sama! Wake up!" A girl shouted to the sleeping whitenette.

Ryou stirred slightly before his eyes fluttered open with a childish grace.

"What is it Amane?" Ryou groaned.

"Daddy's home again!" Amane jumped up and down, finally landing on the bed.

"That's great Amane, just give me a minute." Ryou said sitting up slowly, his head throbbed. "Ah!" He clutched the sides of his pale head.

"Ryou! Are you ok? Is it the bad man?" Amane asked innocently. She was only 11.

Ryou giggled at his little sister's comment, calling Bakura the bad man was so cute and so like her.

"I don't know, it might be." Ryou smiled and caressed his sisters cheek, she frowned at him.

"Leave my brother alone Bad Man!" She said rather loudly.

Ryou could hear snickering in the back of his head, his sister had believed that something was inside him so readily.

"How do you know he's there?" Ryou asked trying to discourage his sister.

"Because sometimes you aren't very nice, and you're eyes change color to a red-ish brown. Your voice gets deeper and you call me a brat. I know that's not you Ni-sama. That's the Bad Man." Amane said simply.

Ryou should've realized that Bakura had met his sister.

_'Leave my sister alone!' _Ryou commanded over the mind link.

The man only chuckled in an echo that swirled around his head.

"So dad's home?" Ryou said changing the subject.

Amane grinned, "He is! He said 'go wake up your brother'." Amane deepened her voice to try and match her fathers' pitch.

Ryou laughed, his sister was always so playful. He ran his hand through her identical snowy white hair.

"Alright, let's go then." Ryou said getting out of his bed.

Amane skipped down the hall, checking behind her every so often to see if her brother was actually following her. When she was satisfied she turned back and kept skipping to the living room.

Sure enough there he was, brown hair, brown eyes, tired smile, and his work glasses. Sitting on the couch.

He looked almost nothing like Ryou, but he definitely looked like Amane, she had his brown eyes and same almond eye-shape.

"Good morning." He said.

Ryou smiled at his father, "Good morning."

It felt so good to see the man again, so familiar, and just nice.

Ryou's mother was sitting on the couch next to their dad.

Now she looked like Ryou, same white hair, same green eyes, same feminine nose, bright smile. Sure Amane had the hair color, but she looked more like their father anyway.

"Ryou, your sister and I are going out so you and your father can have time together." Ryou's mom smiled brightly.

"Aw! But I wanted to play with daddy!" Amane whined.

Ryou lifted his (unusually small) sister in the air and spun her around quickly. "Don't worry, I bet you'll get lots of time with dad."

Amane giggled, she loved playing with her brother, but sometimes she just wanted to play with her dad. Unfortunately she couldn't do that too often.

"But what about the Bad Man? What if he tries to hurt Daddy?" Amane asked quietly.

Ryou's father and Mother gave him confused looks. Ryou just shook his head sadly.

"I don't think you'll have to worry about him, your brother will fight him off." Ryou said confidently, Amane squealed with delight.

Bakura laughed loudly in Ryou's head, _'Do you honestly think you can fend _me_ off? You're not very smart Yadonushi.'_ Bakura hissed with laughter.

Ryou rolled his eyes mentally at the entity, he wasn't going to let Bakura ruin this for him, he wanted it too badly.

"Can we eat?" Ryou asked, he was looking forward to eating as a family again.

"Of course," Ryou's mom said, shaking off her look of confusion. "I made pancakes for everyone."

"PANCAKES!" Amane shrieked in joy. "YUMMY!~"

Their father stood up and picked up Amane and carried the girl into the kitchen, "I bet you can't eat three!" He said playfully.

"I can eat four daddy!" She grinned.

Ryou smiled, everything was right in the world, and gleefully he followed his family into the kitchen.

"So Ryou, how're things at school?" Ryou's father asked, chewing on a chunk of pancake.

"Good, I'm top of my class." Ryou chirped. It was true because he didn't miss many days at school anymore because of Bakura.

"Any 'Special girls' I should know about?" Ryou's father chuckled.

Ryou practically choked on his food, he turned bright red. "N-no not really." He was lying, he secretly had a crush on a girl named Anzu, but she barely knew he existed.

"Hey! I've gotta stay updated, I wanna know if my son's a hit with the girls." Ryou's father winked at him and took another bite.

Ryou was extremely popular with girls, he got a love confession just about every other day. Though none compared to the one he wished to hear from Anzu. But Ryou knew Anzu had a crush on Yugi, it was obvious, and it hurt Ryou sometimes.

"Ryou gets lots of girls! My friends older sisters all have crushes on him!" Amane piped up.

Ryou turned red again and hid behind his flawless white hair.

"So many girls! And none of them are your girlfriend?" Ryou's father asked in shock, though he still wore a smile.

"No, I don't know half of them." Ryou shrugged. "Amane's in ballet now too." He was trying to change the subject.

"Is she really? She'll be the most beautiful swan in her class." Ryou's father held out his arms wide to signify 'whole'.

Amane giggled, "I'm not that good yet daddy."

"Oh but you will be, I'm gonna have to come home more often to chase off all those boys." He winked.

Ryou's mother giggled, "She's only eleven Vince, that's a long way off."

The finished eating and cleaned up together.

"Ryou, we're leaving now, you two have fun." Ryou's mother said.

"Ok, be safe." Ryou smiled and waved at them as his mother and sister left the house.

_'If you think I'm sitting here the whole time, you're insane.'_ Bakura hissed at him.

_'YOU WILL! I'm not letting you take this from me!'_ Ryou yelled back, the spirit was instantly silent.

"So what do you wanna go do Ryou?" Ryou's father asked.

"Ice Cream?" Ryou said sheepishly, it was a tradition that Ryou's dad would take him out for ice cream whenever he came home.

Ryou's dad laughed, "Sure, let's go."

They began their walk to the ice cream parlor, and when they sat down with their ice cream, the TV that had been turned to the news channel had an emergency broadcast.

"It seems there's been an accident downtown, a garbage truck collided with a small station wagon. The driver of the garbage truck survived with small injuries. The driver of the station wagon has been reported dead, and the passenger, a young girl, is now being taken to the hospital with severe injuries." The woman said.

That's when Vince's phone rang.

"We believe we have your daughter in the hospital, she's been in an accident." Ryou could barely hear the man but as soon as he did, Ryou bolted from his seat and ran.

They lived in an apartment, so they weren't too far from the hospital, and Ryou couldn't stop running. His mom was dead, and his sister was halfway there. Tears collected in his eyes as he ran, blurring his sight, and his thoughts.

He burst through the hospital doors, "WHERE IS SHE?" He screamed.

"Are you related to the girl in the car accident?" A lady asked.

"Yes! Please, where is she?" He sobbed in a panic.

They quickly led him to her room, she was breathing slowly and her heart rate was stabilized.

"Ryou?" She rasped, "Ni-sama?"

"It's ok Amane, I'm right here." He was crying, tears pouring fast.

"It hurts brother, it hurts. Where's mommy?" Amane asked feebly.

Ryou choked, "Amane, Mommy's…" He stopped.

"Oh, she's an angel? Poor Mommy," Amane's voice was fading.

"It's ok, you'll be alright, you'll be fine!" Ryou cried hysterically.

"Ni-sama, I love you. Say good-bye to Daddy for me, bye-bye." She smiled, pain washing over her delicate features.

The monitor started beeping really fast, doctors rushed into the room, trying to get her heart rate down.

"NO!" Ryou screamed, nurses were on him trying to pull him away from the room. "AMANE!"

Amane gave him a smile, it was bright despite her pain.

Her suffering.

She flat-lined, and the doctors gave up. Amane was gone, and the nurses let go of Ryou. He bolted at his sister.

Ryou took a deep breath and let out a scream, "**AMANE!**" The cry was strangled and loud and heart wrenching. It was so full of pain and sorrow that every doctor and nurse began crying with him.

Vince walked into the room and saw his daughter dead where she lay, his son crying like he'd lost everything. Technically he had.

Vince went to embrace his son, but Ryou wasn't there anymore, only black sorrow.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" He screamed, gathering his sister in his arms. The limpness of her body made him cry more.

Vince backed away slowly, his son had died with her.

Bakura saw everything, and a ping of sympathy hit his hollow heart. He knew what it felt like to lose everyone you cared about the most. Sure Ryou still had his father, but it was clear to Bakura that Ryou didn't want him right now.

The spirit wandered through their shared head, finally coming to a door that was metallic. It was unusual, the door hadn't been there before. The only doors here were for Ryou's soul room and Bakura's.

Curiously Bakura opened the door, only to be met with darkness, in the middle of the darkness was a boy hugging his knee's to his chest. A single spotlight rested on the boy so he was visible. The boy rocked back and forth, a weeping sound coming from his lips.

The skin was grey and pale, his hair was pitch black, and eyes were glued open they were green but looked dead. The boy mumbled things, not realizing he had company.

"Gone… gone… dead… lifeless…" The boy mumbled in a rhythm.

Bakura stared at the strange boy with confusion and anger, how dare this stranger enter his head!

Upon closer inspection, Bakura found the boy to look just like Ryou. A very dead version of Ryou.

This new blackness was Ryou's heart and soul. This boy was how Ryou felt, how Ryou pictured his life now. The boy didn't look up at Bakura as he walked in, even as the door closed behind the spirit.

Bakura reached out to touch this Ryou, but the boy hissed at him and scrambled backwards, the spotlight followed him.

"Yadonushi?" Bakura tried, his voice faltered uncharacteristically.

The boy only glanced at him before resuming his dead panned expression, rocking once more.

"Gone… gone… dead… lifeless…" He repeated, adding a head shaking motion now.

Bakura didn't like to be ignored so he dove on the boy, grabbing him by the shoulders, that's when he noticed Ryou's body structure in his mind.

Gangly, you could see his ribs, and thin, he was bony and squirming. Unclothed and shivering.

The naked boy writhed in Bakura's grasp.

"LET ME GO! NO! NO! NO! GO AWAY!" The new Ryou screamed, he shouted and shrieked wordlessly.

"Shut up!" Bakura commanded, the boy didn't comply he simply kept wriggling and squirming.

"SHE'S DEAD! SHE'S DEAD! DEAD!" Ryou yelled.

Bakura had a temptation to wring the boy's neck, but refrained seeing the despair in his eyes. The dead shocked look that occupied the boy's once glowing look.

Bakura slapped him, "SHUT UP!" he boomed.

Ryou stopped his movements and his screams, whimpering and twitching instead.

"You don't care! You never care! You just take from me, you take my life, my body, half my soul, and now my family!" Ryou said.

"I didn't take your sister from you, that's just stupid, I couldn't care less about that brat." Bakura snapped.

"SHE'S NOT A BRAT!" Ryou screamed. "YOU LEAVE HER ALONE! DON'T EVER TALK ABOUT HER LIKE THAT!"

Bakura slapped him again, "I won't have that tone Yadonushi." Ryou whimpered again.

Bakura let go of the boy, and was surprised when he didn't crumple to the floor.

"Bad Man!" Ryou hissed, "Bad Man!"

Bakura was taken aback at the malevolent way he used that nickname. Ryou surely wasn't capable of such things.

Ryou crumpled back to the floor, the angry despair bringing the spirit down on his knees. Bakura kneeled there just watching the boy, Ryou was gone. There was no more Ryou.

Bakura couldn't deal with it, he missed the annoying light in his hikari's eyes. He missed the oddly cheerful tone the boy had during the most trying times.

This wasn't Ryou anymore.

This was the pure essence of darkness and despair, the pure energy of hatred.

It reminded Bakura of his childhood, it reminded him of the way he felt after watching his family and friends murdered at Kul Elna.

He knew exactly how Ryou felt, his father abandoned him and his mother and sister were dead.

Bakura then did something he never thought he'd ever do…

He reached for Ryou, in a more tender way, and pulled the bare boy into his lap, holding him.

Ryou stopped and looked up at Bakura, who'd closed his eyes and started rocking back and forth, slowly.

Ryou buried his head in Bakura's shoulder and cried, he let it all out, never hesitating to scream and whimper. The sounds muffled by the black cloth of Bakura's cloak.

Bakura only wished someone had done this for him when he cried back then. Maybe then he wouldn't have been so hell bent on killing the Pharaoh.

He couldn't let his precious Hikari turn into him. He couldn't let his Hikari die the way he had, without comfort.

He needed Ryou's light balance that made everything right in the world. And at this moment, they both needed each other.

Light and Dark.

Good and Evil.

Loved and Lost.

Bakura and Ryou were dependant on each other, it took Amane to show them this.

Slowly, Ryou's complexion returned from grey to pale white. His black hair shifted to white. His eyes closed, still sobbing into his dark's shirt. He was no longer bony, but lithe. The space around them returned to Ryou's favorite place, the park, where he and his family had eaten whenever they were together. Though there was a large crack in the green ground, Bakura didn't expect everything to go back to normal.

Ryou lay still, in his arms, still naked. Bakura pulled off his black cloak and wrapped it around the boy, shifting him off of his lap.

Bakura stood, and turned to the door that changed from metallic to mahogany.

"Sleep well, Ryou." Bakura said softly as he pulled the door closed.

Ryou smiled, Bakura had never called him by his first name before.

Maybe there was a speck of light in the darkness after all.

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><p>Queen: Well I wrote this and cried as I did, I found it very sad. I apologize if half of this isn't cannon. I made it up, with Ryou's help. I can't wait to hear from you nice people.<p>

Flamers will be stuck in the same dead despair Ryou was stuck in.


End file.
